a green sky
by Scythe-chan
Summary: Takao didn't want to be cleithrophobic. Submitted to basketballpoetsociety for challenge no.97.


**Author's Note**

**Hello! **

**This is my first fic sent to basketballpoetsociety as a submission for challenge no.97 - Places and Spaces! Could you guys take a look at their tumblr? It's a fantastic and well-organised site, so I think there won't be a problem looking through it. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke**

**Please enjoy and leave a review!**

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><p>Like Izuki, Takao had cleithrophobia, the fear of being trapped similar to a helpless bird in a cage.<p>

It happened the first time when Takao went for a shower in the bathroom, and despite being aware that the doorknob was faulty, he thought it did no harm to lock it. Relaxing in the bathtub, he thought through the day's events which consisted of pineapples, basketball and majorly a certain lettucehead, while he stared at the floating rubber duck. The hawk remembers that his handcart - also known as the infamous Shuutoku team's only mode of transportation - needed some fixing as ordered by a carrot.

He chuckles slightly and shook his head, before he runs his hand through his hair and got up from the bathtub. Wrapping a towel around his lower body and keeping it secure, he turns the doorknob to open the door.

Instead, this seemingly simple routine everyone should have known, failed when it came to the faulty doorknob of the Takao household. Takao tries with both hands to open the door again, but even so with such strength he only managed to receive the broken doorknob in his hands, but not an open door for him to walk out.

Takao grits his teeth and feels nauseous, his small bathroom world seeming more smaller as seconds go by. The words he wants to say was not voiced out, and his heartbeats rang out loud, pulsing in his ears.

He was scared, and the frantic struggling he had against the door was gradually turned into a shivering, wheezing sensation he felt while crouching in a corner of the bathroom; a hand covering an ear. His brain shows him a display of hawks in cages, the grief of their screeching and the recurring bold word that read " cleithrophobia ".

At 8pm, his parents usually won't return home that early, but that moment when his father came back and rescued him out made the basketball player hug him tightly, half-naked and all. Takao sobs quietly on the masculine shoulder bound to get weaker and weaker as years go by, while he gets back the warmth via the soothing pats on his back by his wrinkled mother. He thinks of something, and laughs.

" Quit fooling around, Scorpio is at 10th today. Such a position is terrifying, but will give you some luck when you are in trouble. "

The very next day, he recounts the story to Midorima, Miyaji, Kimura and Otsubo, but they took it as a joke. Miyaji and Kimura mocks him for being half-naked and crying in a bathroom, while Otsubo tries to keep them quiet. Midorima was reading a novel when he was explaining, but Takao knows he was listening anyway. He wasn't exactly pleased that they thought he was fooling around when he knew that the tears yesterday were real, but still he finally was appeased after they agreed that anywhere he went, they will make sure that the door is not locked.

Though the promise was made that very day, it was forgotten by Miyaji, who left with the others except Takao in the locker room and accidentally locked it from the outside. It was after basketball practice, and everyone was ready to go home except for Takao, who had decided to practise more that day and took a nap in the locker room. At 7pm, he zipped his bag and yawned, turning the doorknob to realise it was locked.

His mind thinks through about what had happened; He had slept when others were leaving, and Miyaji was in charge of the keys for today. Miyaji was careless and thought nobody was in before he locked the door, and now he'll have to spend the night in Shuutoku's basketball locker room.

He did not mind about staying over, but he was bothered about how he was locked in and nobody was going to know. It was the 2nd time the trigger was pulled, and he began to panic. Cold sweat broke out, and his breathing was in an abnormal speed. Everything was happening so quickly as he grips on his head, and the illusion his minds mercilessly paints was of a locker room that seems to be smaller and smaller, just like the bathroom yesterday. His saliva trickles out of his mouth, and he pants out a hoarse, " Help me ".

As if his cry was answered, he faintly hears the hasty turns and twists of a bunch of keys, and the door was driven open by an anxious greenhead. The bespectacled one pants out of fatigue, and his green tresses were disheveled. His eyes stare at Takao, and while shivering, the hawk laughs shakily, " I-I must seem very hideous like this, huh…? "

Midorima pursues his lips, and walks forward to the traumatised man to embrace him. Takao could feel, despite being numb all over, that the lettucehead was blushing, and he teases with a, " How out of character, Shin-chan! " albeit unstable and shaky.

Midorima does not retort or fight back, but instead pats his back gently. Takao was surprised, but decided to use the chance to relax and release all the stress piling up. The two shared a silent conversation that no one could understand, before Midorima finally spoke.

" Cleithrophobia, really.., " he sighed.

Those short words made Takao see cages being unlocked, and the screeching finally turns into something more pleasant and gentler. The flapping of wings was excited and lively, and these hawks fled into the horizon which exclusively belongs to the vast and unusually green sky.

Takao smiles, and he replies, " Yup, it's definitely cleithrophobia. "

The place he would ever want to be, he grins cheerfully as he feels the warmth he receives bit by bit.

It definitely would be a sky, with all the hues of a familiar green splashed on it.


End file.
